News Release

ORNL's Boatner and Gardner produce cover photo

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.,
April 24, 1997
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A color interference-contrast micrograph taken by Lynn Boatner and Janie Gardner of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) appeared on the cover of the January 1997 issue of the American Ceramic Society Bulletin.

The micrograph illustrates imperfections that form during the growth of single crystals of zinc oxide - a material of considerable commercial importance due to its use in varistors for electrical surge protection.

A varistor is an electrical resistor whose resistance depends on the applied voltage.

Experimental and theoretical work on varistors and varistor materials has been ongoing in ORNL's Solid State Division for a number of years.

The American Ceramic Society Bulletin is received each month by every member of the American Ceramic Society and enjoys wide exposure in both the scientific and industrial ceramics community.

Boatner, who joined ORNL in 1977, was a group leader in the Solid State Division until 1987, when he was named section head. He was named an ORNL corporate fellow in 1993.

He received bachelor's and master's degrees in physics and mathematics from Texas Tech University. He earned a doctorate in physics from Vanderbilt University.

He and his wife, Martha Alice, live in Oak Ridge. They have three children: Mark, Ivan and Philip.

Gardner came to Y-12 in 1978 in Physical Testing and Metallography, Product Certification Division at Y-12. She has been with the Metallography Group in the Metals and Ceramics Division at ORNL since 1990.

She attended Roane State Community College and Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

Her honors and awards include the 1990 Martin Marietta Energy Systems team award for "ceasing the flow of potentially hazardous waste to the environment," the 1995 Ceramographic Competition First-In-Class Award for Optical Microscopy, the 1995 International Metallographic Contest First-In-Class Award for Color Microscopy Category entitled "Martensitic Transformation in an Austenitic Stainless Steel," and three front-cover photographs in The Journal of the American Ceramic Society.

Gardner and her husband, Jeff, live in Kingston. They have a son, Matthew.

ORNL, one of DOE's multiprogram national research and development facilities, is managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation.